Why an Open API Is a Powerful Source of Competitive Advantage

The number of open APIs is projected to reach 30,000 by 2016, compared to 11,000 in 2013, 2,500 in 2010, and less than 600 in 2007.

Today, the open API is one of the most powerful sources of competitive advantage for the enterprise. It opens a business model for sharing data and services with your business partners and/or third-party application developers with the intent to deliver a successful open initiative. Because an API is essentially an instruction manual, it’s about organizing and packaging existing knowledge—what you already know about any particular subject—to solve problems.

It comes down to the potential of your data and services. Some examples:

Retail

National brands can connect to customers wherever they are by exposing inventory and price information via APIs. Applications that third-party developers create can cost-effectively improve market reach and a brand’s stickiness.

Healthcare

One challenge for health caregivers is staying current with care routines for multiple patients. APIs supply this information to caregivers via mobile applications so that the right medication and the right care are provided to each patient at the right time.

Insurance

An insurance company improves broker responsiveness, information transparency, and operational efficiency by off-loading work now performed by brokers, such as providing certified car repair locations to claimants.

One more thing: Not only is the business mobile app market growing at approximately the same rate as the consumer app market, it is less congested and offers better revenue potential for developersbecause the primary route to market is via direct sales (B2B) rather than app stores.

TIBCO API Exchange was named a strong performer in The Forrester Wave on API Management Solutions. Download the report here.